Tangent cone contact lens



March 30, 1948.

W. FEINBLOOM TANGENT coNE CONTACT LENS Filed Deo. 15, 1945 fiar/cw,

Tlq.

INVENTOR A ORN Patented Mar. 3 0, 1948 TANGENT GONE CONTACT; LENS".

williamile'inliloom, New Yiorki N3 ApplicationDcem-ber 15, 1.945, SrialNmZS; weleens (01; sst- 54:53 u

My present .invention'relatesin generaltocon'- tact lenses, and :more r.particularly to 'an-improved all-plastic contact *lens referred; to 'hereinafteras a tangent cone contactlens:

In .my U1' Si Patent Nos. 129;304; 2,129,305; 2 ,17 83873 and jY 2;19.6;066i" I," have shown glass and plastic contact'lensesadaptedto"overcomevisual diiiculties, andi to.. replace. ordinaryl spectacles when these provezundesirable. Brey; the glass lens (thek cornealsectiomj is worn in intimate Contact with,the,.eyehalllwithonly a layer. of water between ,the lens and`V cornea; Thus, v the lens` in eiect, forms 4. an articial cornea, vand 'its opticallpower. corrects the errors in vision. A molded;V plastic... rim i (sclral' portion)r holds the glfasslensn the; proper position.iheforetl'ie eye. The. Iinoldeclplastic rim,. on scleral section; .generally` issoughtto contactgthesclerotia vor white, partiof the` eyeA Even" in .the,case; oigoth'er. types of Contactlenses,y as,.the..ground;andblown types, itis soughtto have thascleral rim or section closely. confrm.t0. .thecOntOm' o-.the eyeball.`

Gntact'lnsesvconstructedgin accordance with myaioresaidpatents providefor ythe .bearingsurr face.v of the -l'ensto consist 1 of the. area extending froml the outermost I, edge of j the scleral"l rim Y to from c one ,-,thiid tot one-half 'towards the. corneal secton.- L have .found fronti;L actnall experience with patients wearing .contactllenses that" there develops highlyundesirablepressuresen the eye.- balliwfith the passageitimei Thesevpressures, which. give.'4 rise rto undesirable. physiologicalf ef# fect`s,..can onlyV be .asorib'edl to thafactl that; the scleral section ,ofjtiiese pri'orcontactlenses closely conform tothe sclerotic. partici the eyeball'. Cnsiderahlenvestigation andexp,erim ent'ation `have caused "me tocome tot the. conolsionthat tolerance. ofjtlie .wearer toA a Acontact lenscan` .only be increased by, decreasing; the ,f area of the. hearing zone betweenthe sclralrim-andthe eyeball.'

Accordingly, it`l may4 be stated; that uit' is yone of the maiirv objectsofjmy present' invention to. -provideV a contactlens which. is differentiated. from all'prior contactlenses inthat the b'earingur.- face between the lens suppgntfelement"` andthe eyeball,` is minimized;` Ih. accordance with my present' invention Ii replace. theu'sual scleral rimby a conical,b'earingdsetion which is adapted tof provide a circlev ofi hearigeontact with the eyeball, v-Jhereloyl p ressurcpn .theeyeis minimized. Inthe. priorplasticrglasseontact .lens-the. .mode of fabrication `was such that there, existed a .zone of transitionV4 that" was 'discontinuous?" at.` the jonction offthe, corneal'iandcleral sections, .and the, eyeball" could'. feel such.. discontinuity. and thereby vcreate nervous tension in the wearer.` In accordanceA with',y another, andi important, ob,- jectof my invention. I'Ih'ave provideda contact lens whichr iszproduoedfin suchgaform that there incomplete continuity betweenl the comme! e-r 21:52 tion'andthe conicaljbearinggsection.orrthe-inner surfaces whereby the' eyeball doesmy not feelI a' break inf the innerfsnrfacezofthe' contactlens: In mypresent contactlens thefinnei'facee is:

smooth, and offers no obstacletotheeyeballas itzrollsr.

It Aliasloeen lfound thatgto. coveruthe'range -of fall possible eyeball: formati/ons:` apgroximately; 400 lenses are required`x f r' the fttingg of? the prior p1astic-glass;contact lenses: Inaccordance-with my Lpresentinvention;I haveprovidedaztypefof contactlens lwhich requiresgbuttwentytotwenty ve ,lenses topgoyide ttingof'allossiblftypes of "eyeballs:

Amore specific obj ect*ofmxyplfcsent'invention' is ,to y-pmroyide a tangent cone.contactlenswhich automatically seals againstairbllbhles, and,v im* ther, `wherein the edgesv of., the conical: bearing surface are notcapable ofdigginglliintothe.'eyeball:

Other objects, featuresandi,advantagesfoffthe invention will appear",frornaereadnggoithe.foli lowing detailedidescription.; which; is accompanied b'y' a, drawing;

InY the drawing;

Fig. 1' is'v a plan; v-ewzoffan.,embodimentof acontactlens constructed" inaccordance with'V my present invention;

Fig: zbzis-aJ verticalsection' thrioiiglile4 Vlens cut from the'blankalong dotted line *b"of;Fig;2a;

Fig. 2c is averticalsection through azlenscut from-the'blank along'dotted linecoflig;

Fig. 3illustratesschematicallyjhe kcontactlens of JFig; 2mo11ntedin'o11erative ppsition on'y an e5/ef ball; the f eyeball being; viewed; intplanr from.:l the skull;

Fig,V 4 I'shows kthe 'same1 .eyeballas Lin .Eig/.g V3,' hilt viewed from the nasalsidejNL Eig. t5.' shows the fronttviewfofthefilttedgeyehall of Figs: 3;"an'd4'; and* Fig,Y 6;;by contrast; showsthief appearance; of the same eyehallwhen ttdf'wii'h. a" Contatlens of the prior 'art Referrng-1-'now to the i accompanyingjdr'awing, wherein. like reference charactersini the j several iigures denote.similar:structuralieiements atten: tion is fii'stdirectedt'o Figs'. 1v and'ZwhiQhsh'ow a tangent cone .contact 4lens A,ernblfldyingguy,13,1165- ent invention. In general;theflensl is composed entirely of a plasticl materiali` Basically, ,there are three sections tothe l`contact:llena'Ihiecorneal sectionV l 1' extendsoyer, alpredeterminedi( approxi: mately 123mm);insidecornealcchordr. However, this chord-.f length-.may bef; varied., Immediately sphere.

adjoining the corneal section I is a conical bearing section 2 which extends down from the corneal portion. The angle of the conical section 2 to Vthe verticalziflnaygfbe chosen from Ya predetermined range of angles (say 43 to 49). My invention is not restricted to these values. Ad-

joining the section 2 in the temporal quadrant isv a curved scleral flange 3 which varies in radius of curvature over a predetermined range fof values. The function of the scleral ilange, or tail, 3 is to keep the upper and lowery eyelids from rubbing against the edge of the' conical section 2 on the temporal side. The contact between the scleral flange and the solera of the eye should be one varying from complete clearance to one of just bare contact. The desiredv choice is easily made, because any blanching ofV a blood vessel is readily observed. The section 3 is not a part of the bearing surface. Y

The contact lens is p-roduced from any suit-- able synthetic plasticv materialadapted to be impervious tothe fluids .ofthe eye. I prefer to `use a transparent plastic material which can be molded in the desired configuration as a ow along the inner surface from the corneal section lA to 'theJconical section 2. There exists no break or discontinuity at the zone of transition or junction, between the corneal and radius.

scleral sections, as was the casein the prior contactrlens. In the prior vglass-plastic lens, a radius of the scleral rim met .the radius of the corneal section, always leaving an area or zone of discontinuity on the inner surface which the eyeball could feel. From Fig.4 2 it will be seen that the smooth and continuous transition from the corneal section to the conical section 2 leaves substantially no disturbingffactor for the eyeball. This is an important improvement in the present construction over. prior Contact lenses, since the .eyeball will not bump into any obstruction as it rolls along. f. Y

Attention isV nowdirected to Fig. l2aV which shows thev front view Voffa blank from which is readily cut, by lany suitable and known cutting apparatus, contact lensesof the forms shown in Figs. 2, 2b and 2c. The dotted lines a, b and c in Fig. 2a ydenote respectively different cutting planes transverse, to the vertical axis of the blank. The blank has thev corneal section l, the

conical section 2 and the flange section 3. The latter is actually a transverse section of a The transverse junction lines of the sections are somewhat exaggerated so as to emphasizethe existence of the three sections. The corneal section l may be formed with its outer radius variable to provideoptical'correction. If desired, ythe corneal section 'el mayv be lenticular. Y Y

The lens vofl'gsfl, 2 inay be formed by laterally cutting through the blank alongv the line a. It will be-notedthatthefcutting plane a Vangularly inte'rsects,the .plane'of the base of'conical section 2. The residual scleral flange 3, then, becomes the temporal sidev of the lense. Obviously, the angle of intersection of the Cutting .poral side.

. cut away.

lmate tangency.

4 plane and the plane of the base of conical section 2 may vary.

It may be desirable at timesV to cut the blank along line b; In that casethe flange section 3 is entirely eliminated. The longer .side of the conical section 2 would then act as the tem- Fig. 2b shows a vertical section through a Vcontact lens cut from the blank along line b. The dash lines in Fig. 2b indicate the lower portion of the conical section 2 which was There may be cases where both nasal and temporal vflanges are desired for the lens. An illustration of such a lens is shown in Fig. 2c, which shows a vertical section through a lens cut along line c of Fig.' 2a. Suitable cutting apparatus exists for providing the cutting pattern represented by line c.

.In the various embodiments shown in Figs. 2, 2b and 2c it can be stated thatpractically the entire area of the lens peripheral to the corneal section is of conical configuration.' Y

Attention is now directed Figs. 3 and 4 Vwhich show the contact lens operatively mounted on an eyeball li. The numeral 5 denotes the cornea of the'eye. In Fig. 3 I have shown an idealized or schematic plan view of the eyeball, the latter being shown in Fig. 4 in its meridian of` short In other words, Fig. 3 shows the contact lens fittedfto the eyebalL'and viewed downwardly from the skull. The letter `T denotes the temporal side, while N denotes 'the nasal. Fig'. 4 shows the nasal aspect. It will be noted that the conical section 2 Ais tangentially related to the eyeball. The term tangent is used in the description and claims to indicate an ideal condition. Actually there exists an approxi- Even though theeyeball is denitely irregular in many meridians, or even in the same meridian, the cone lens Will touch on some point in almost every meridian, because the curvature of the eye in any meridian grows less, i. e., the radius is longer as the distance from the cornea increases. Thereis practically never a point of inflection beyond Athe rst few millimeters beyond the cornea. 'In Fig. 5 I have portrayed the front view ofA the 'tted vContact lens. The tangential bearing zone, or circle, is indicated by numeral 6 as a shaded area.

The inner bearing surface ofl the 'conical section 2' is about' one-third up fromthe edge. This permits for rollingl frictionas the eye moves. Theoretically, the tangent conical section 2 should provide a circle line contact at the successive points where the section 2 meetsthe eyeball., However, the globe of the eye, which is fairly hard, is covered by a very soft, flexible, inelastic tissue (the bulbarconjunctiva) which gives under the lens. ,The tissue flattens to form the narrow zone 6, instead of a theoretical line. However, the narrow bearing zone '6 reduces to a minimum the sum total of all pressures on the eyeball 4 which are produced from the weight and muscle pressure of the eyelids, as well as the weight of the contact lens Aand the enclosed water. These extremelyr important results are secured by having the conical section 2 bear tangentially on the eyeball at narrow zone 6. A marked increase in the wearing period of the contact lens results. The eyeball can readily tolerate the lens for verylmuch longer periodsV indicate by 'I' and N the temporal and nasal sides. The bearing zone of the. scleral portion in Fig. 6 is not only at the rim edge, but exists up towards the corneal section for at least onethird the length of the scleral rim. The shaded area 1 shows the large bearing surface, and why undesirable increase of pressure occurs when wearing the prior contact lens for long periods. Hence the eyeball has been relieved of much of this scleral pressure when employing my present invention.

The existence of the narrow bearing zone E is readily demonstrated with a contact lens of my invention. The contact lens is inserted, except that one drop of fiuorescein is added to the contents of the lens. The room is darkened, and the eye is illuminated with a violet light source. It will be observed that a non-fluorescent, narrow circular zone 6 exists between the fluorescent limbus clearance and the iluorescent area concentric to zone 6. This indicates that the lens bears on the eyeball at solely zone 6. A similar test with a prior contact lens shows the wide zone 'I of Fig. 6 to be non-iiuorescent.

An additional advantage of the present tangent cone contact lens resides in its automatic liquid-sealing characteristic. If we assume the eye to be irregular in shape, but approximated by a toric surface or ellipsoid, paraboloid etc., then a conical surface can be so chosen that it will touch the eyeball surface at some point along the cone in every single meridian. If contact is not secured for every meridian, then air bubbles result. Since the space between the corneal section and the tangential Zone 6 is desired completely to be lled with liquid (tears, etc.,) it follows that each meridian must be sealed against loss of liquid. This prevents air bubbles from interfering with vision. In the prior contact lenses it has been difficult to seal against air bubbles.

Further advantages of the present construction include the fact that the edge of the conical section 2 cannot dig intothe ball 4, and the important advantage that approximately 20 to 25 lenses of the present type (suitably arranged and proportioned) are sufficient to cover the range of all eyeballs. This should be compared to the prior contact lens, which requires some 400 lenses to cover the same range.

It should be distinctly understood that the foregoing description has been disclosed as illustrative and not as a limitation of the invention, since various changes may be made by one skilled in the art. For example, I am not restricted to any specific plastic materials, nor need the entire lens be transparent. The sections other than the corneal section I may be of White pigmentation to match the sclera of the eyeball.

What I claim is:

1. A contact lens comprising a corneal lens section, a conical scleral bearing section and a scleral ilange, said sections and flange being a single unit, practically the entire area of the lens peripheral to the corneal section being of conical conguration, said conical section being shaped so as tangentially to bear on the solera of the eye along a relatively narrow circular zone, and said scleral flange being constructed and arranged to keep the upper end lower eyelids from rubbing against the edge of the conical section on the temporal side.

2. An all-plastic contact lens having a conical scleral bearing section, a corneal lens section provided as a smooth and continuous extension of the conical section on the inner surface, whereby the eyeball cannot feel any discontinuity be tween the lens section and scleral bearing section on the inner surfaces thereof and practically the entire area oi the lens peripheral to the corneal section being of conical conguration.

3. A contact lens consisting of a corneal section, a conical scleral bearing section extending down from the corneal section, a curved scleral flange depending from the conical section, and said conical section being shaped so as taugenu tially to bear on the solera of the eye and practically the entire area of the lens peripheral to the corneal section being of conical configuration.

e. A contact lens, adapted to be tted directly on an eyeball, comprising a corneal lens section, a conical scleral bearing section and a scleral flange all formed as an integral plastic unit free of discontinuities on the inner surfaces thereof said contact lens having substantially its entire area peripheral to its corneal section of conical conguration.

5. A plastic blank, from which a contact lens is adapted to be cut, comprising a corneal section, a conical scleral bearing section, a spherical section, said conical section being intermediate the other two sections and practically the entire area of the blank peripheral to the corneal section being of conical configuration.

6. A plastic blank, from which a contact lens is adapted to be cut, comprising a corneal section, a conical scleral bearing section, a spherical section, said conical section being intermediate the other two sections and the inner face of the junction between the corneal section and conical section being smooth and continuous and substantially the entire area of the blank peripheral to the corneal section being of substantially conical configuration.

7. A contact lens consisting of a corneal lens section and a scleral bearing section derived from a conical section, the inner surface of the junction of the two sections being smooth and continuous, a scleral :iange depending from the scleral bearing section which has both nasal and temporal portions and practically the entire area oi the lens peripheral to the corneal section being of conical configuration.

WILLIAM FEINBLOOM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,921,972 lcrtsch et al Aug. 8, 1933 2,237,744 Mulien Aug. 8, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 147,366 Austria Oct. 26, 1936 516,946 Great Britain Aug. 8, 1939 OTHER REFERENCES Contact Lenses (Text), T. E. Obrig (1942), pub. by the Chilton Co., Philadelphia, Pa., pages 20 and 144 cited. 

